The victory over Islamic State in Palmyra has spiritual and symbolic significance, Qadri Jamil, one of the leaders of the Moscow-Cairo Syrian opposition group says

MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. Liberation of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria has major significance as it has undermined positions of Islamic State (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia), Qadri Jamil, one of the leaders of the Moscow-Cairo Syrian opposition group, told a news conference on Monday.

"Liberation of Palmyra is a milestone event," he said. "The victory over Islamic State in Palmyra is important not only from the military point of view. It has spiritual and symbolic significance."

"The humankind was on the verge of a very macabre period. Russia and Syria are now defending civilization just as Russia was fighting against Nazism in the past," he added.

The Syrian army said on Sunday that it liberated the ancient city of Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site, with support from the Russian air group.

Palmyra, an ancient city in Syria’s Homs province some 210 kilometers from Damascus, was seized by gunmen of the Islamic State (a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) in early summer 2015. The Syrian authorities said back then that Palmyra with its monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, could share the fate of Iraq’s ancient cities of Assur, Nimrud and Hatra that were destroyed by Islamic State militants.